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Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 228

"Give heed to me, O LORD"

Text: Jeremiah 18:19

AN IMPRECATORY PRAYER I

Jeremiah’s response was to pray to God when he learned about how his enemies planned to persecute him. His prayer had strong undertones of imprecatory elements.

“Give heed to me, O LORD,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I stood before You
To speak good for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
Therefore deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.”
Jeremiah 18:19-21

1. “Give heed to me, O LORD,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!”

a) Jeremiah asked that his prayer be heeded
b) He presented his complaint against those who contended with him

2. “Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them.”

a) What Jeremiah did for them:
i) He was good to the people.
ii) He had prayed for them.
iii) He had interceded on their behalf.
iv) He had sought to turn away God’s wrath against them.
b) But they had not appreciated him at all.
i) They were contending with him.
ii) They were going to oppose him.
iii) They were laying traps for his life.
iv) They were like hunters digging a pit to capture animals.

3. “Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; let their wives become widows and bereaved of their children. Let their men be put to death, their young men be slain by the sword in battle.”

a) An imprecatory prayer against the enemies.
b) This was a prayer for God’s
i) Judgment.
ii) Punishment.
c) The whole family would suffer.
i) The men
That they may be slain by the sword.
ii) The wives
That they may become widows.
(It is likely that the womenfolk also attacked Jeremiah.)
iii) The children
That they too be slain in battle.
(If they are to be slain in battle, they would already be adults.)

4. Imprecatory prayers

a) They express the deep anguish of the soul.
b) Whether God will actually answer such prayers depends on:
i) His wisdom.
ii) His will.